Compressed Air Energy Storage: Modelling & Applications for Sustainable Electric Power Systems

Abstract

With the increasing concerns about the climate change and depletion of non-renewable energy sources, there has been a growing emphasis on the deployment of renewable energy sources in electric power systems. However, due to inherent stochasticity of renewable energy sources, this transition toward sustainable electric power systems creates serious challenges for the reliable and safe operation of such systems. Large-scale energy storage systems are considered to be key enablers for integrating increasing penetration of renewable energy sources by adding flexibility to the electric power systems. This thesis investigates compressed air energy storage (CAES) as a cost-effective large-scale energy storage technology that can support the development and realization of sustainable electric power systems. Firstly, this thesis develops a novel planning framework of CAES to consider its benefits from an electric utility’s perspective. The proposed framework is used to investigate different applications of CAES which depend upon the location and size of CAES in an electric power system. The proposed framework also considers the option of installing a dynamic thermal line rating (DTLR) system which measures real-time, maximum power ratings of transmission lines. Next, this thesis examines the existing models of CAES employed in electric power system studies and proposes a novel thermodynamic-based model of CAES which is more accurate yet suitable for electric power system studies. The importance and significance of the proposed model is established through its application in the problem of optimal scheduling of CAES in electricity markets. It is demonstrated that through the proposed model, the operator of a CAES can submit bids in electricity markets without violating any of the technical constraints of CAES. Lastly, this thesis inspects the reliability benefits of CAES to an electric power system. In this part of the thesis, a four-state reliability model of CAES is developed. The reliability model of CAES is then applied to evaluate the reliability of a wind-integrated electric power system. It is revealed that CAES can significantly improve the reliability indices of an electric power system. Moreover, it is shown that this improvement depends on the location and size of CAES.